Frequently Asked Questions
The Water Energy Nexus Prize Competition

GENERAL

Q. What is the mission of the competition?
A. Imagine H2O’s prizes are designed to inspire new, creative solutions to water challenges, drawing together a heretofore disconnected group of business, non-profit, academic, and governmental stakeholders to rally around the importance of water innovation.

Q. How does the competition work?
A. Generally speaking, the competition is a business plan competition for new or early-stage water businesses that save energy. Competing teams submit an entry, including an Executive Summary of their businesses. A Selection Committee determines which teams advance and ultimately win prizes. For official rules and information, the 2010 Water Energy Nexus Competition Terms are posted here.

Q. Who are the judges?
A. A list of judges will be made available soon.

Q. When is the winner announced?
A. Finalists will be announced on or around December 1st, 2010.
Winners will be announced in March 2011.

Q. Who is sponsoring this?
A. This competition is backed by the Royal Bank of Canada, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Cooley LLP.  The Wells Fargo Foundation and the Stiefel Family Foundation also support the orgranization. 

Q. What is Imagine H2O?
A. Imagine H2O is a not-for-profit company with a mission to inspire & empower people to solve water problems. For more information on Imagine H2O, please go here.

Q. Who do I contact if I have questions about the Water Energy Nexus Prize?
A. Please email prize@imagineh2o.org with your questions.


ELIGIBILITY & ENTRY:

Q. When are entries due?
First round entries are due by 11:59 PST on November 15, 2010.

Q. What is the water-energy nexus?
The water-energy nexus, in the context of this competition, refers to the energy intensity of treating, transporting and using water.

Q. How does a water business save energy?
A. Here are some ways that water businesses save energy (by no means a comprehensive list):

• Low Energy or “smart” water pumps
• Renewable energy based pumping or treatment
• Monitoring conveyance and treatment systems to optimize energy demand
• Material technology advances in piping and infrastructure to reduce energy demands
• Products for more energy efficient desalination or other water generation
• Enhancing cogeneration for wastewater treatment plants
• Membrane technologies that save energy
• Improvements in end use water heating/cooling efficiencies
• In-pipe or low head energy recovery
• Gravity driven treatment

Q. What is a business that would qualify to compete?
A. This competition is for startup water companies that were started after January 1st, 2007 and have not received outside investment over $1.5 million USD. An eligible water business saves energy in moving, treating, or using water. An eligible business must primarily focus on serving its customers' water or wastewater needs while offering energy savings as a primary selling point for its product or service. The business must demonstrate measurable energy savings as a direct result of the product or service.

Please see the Competition Terms for details.

Q. How do entrants submit entries?
A. Go to the How To Enter page for instructions on how to submit an entry.

Q. What is the size maximum for submission uploads?
A. There is a size maximum of 10MB for uploads. 

Q. Is the social impact assessment question judged?
A. You are required to complete the social impact question, per the application instructions, but the Selection Committee will not score your answer.

Q. Since the social impact assessment is not scored, why is it on the application?
IH2O hopes that submissions will be successful, and will make a positive impact on the world. However, accurately grading or scoring a submission’s likely projected future social impact would be difficult in the format of the Competition. Instead, we want to encourage entrepreneurs to think through the potential impact of their businesses, and the tradeoffs they might encounter. Although we believe that a water business that focuses on energy savings is likely to make a positive social impact, there may still be intended or unintended tradeoffs. We ask the question to encourage entrepreneurs to think about those issues, and we hope to be able to provide related coaching and mentorship to finalists.